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Friday, December 12, 2014

The one where I pushed out a winter melon....part 3

Around 6:00 the nurse came in to check my progress, 5 cm. I was a bit disappointed I hadn't moved along any more than that. They also informed me that baby girl wasn't handling the contractions as well as she had been and her heart rate was dropping more frequently than they would like. Great. I was already on my side, so they had me switch positions to see if it would help, but it didn't. Dr. N came by and told me to help relieve some of the pressure off baby they were going to put some fluid back in. I didn't even know this was possible, but figured Dr. knows best and if it was better for baby than let's do it. So they placed an internal monitor and got the fluid flowing. Baby responded great and her heart rate remained stable even with the contractions. Guess she just wanted her swimming pool back!

Shortly after all that excitement my dad arrived. It was nice to have another distraction to get me through the home stretch. We chatted and made guesses on when baby would arrive. I was hopeful she would make an appearance before midnight and placed my bet around 10:00 PM. Everyone else was sure it would be earlier. Adam and my dad had fun watching my contractions literally jump off the monitor. At one point the nurse even came in to turn down the pitocin because my uterus was apparently working overtime. I was glad for epidurals and not feeling a thing, though I did mention to my nurse that I was starting to feel some pressure with each contraction. She decided not to check me since it hadn't even been an hour since she last checked plus she was leaving for the day and figured it would be best to let the new nurse check when she did her rounds. I was really bummed to see her go but she joked that on the plus side her leaving meant I would likely have this baby within the hour since that's how it usually goes when she spends a whole day with a patient, always missing the grand finale. At the time this seemed very unlikely, little did we know she was pretty much right on with her guess.
Around 7 when my new nurse came by for her regular checks I told her the pressure was becoming pretty intense with each contraction. She decided to go ahead and check my progress and much to my surprise said no wonder I was feeling pressure, I was complete and baby was RIGHT there. She joked to keep my legs crossed and not push because she wasn't prepared to deliver that baby herself today and Dr. N was still finishing up with a C-section. I can't say I was totally surprised, with Jamie I went from 5-10 cm in about an hour as well. Guess those off the charts contractions weren't for nothing! Thankfully I didn't have any urge to push like you hear so many women do because I hung out there for about another 30 minutes waiting for the Dr. to arrive. In the meantime my room became like grand central station as they got the room ready for baby's arrival. The warming lamp and bassinet were on stand by. They started breaking down my bed and bringing out the stirrups and the giant light came down from the ceiling just in time for the Dr. to walk in. It was baby time!

Adam assumed his position on my left side, my nurse on the right. The two of them joked who would cut the cord, Adam wanted nothing to do with that and I didn't want him hitting the floor so the task got delegated to the nurse. I had previously told my dad he was welcome to stay if he wanted so he stayed off to the side, ready to meet his granddaughter. They got my legs in the stir-ups, which is no easy task when you can't feel them, and gave me a quick refresher course on how and when to push. At this point I was mentally prepared for the marathon that could be ahead remembering how with Jamie it took exactly one hour to get him out. I glanced at the clock and saw 8:15 and hoped by 9:00 we'd have a baby. Dr. N told me my contraction was starting and to pull myself up and start to push. Everyone counted to 10 and though I felt like I wasn't doing anything, they assured me I was doing great. When we got to 10 I laid back to catch my breath, but they quickly told me no, it's time to go again so I pulled myself forward and began to push. I don't think they even made it to 5 and the Dr. was telling me to look down. I figured she maybe wanted me to see the baby's head or be able to see how far I'd progressed, but I no sooner looked down and there she was, holding a baby. My baby. Our baby. In barely 2 pushes, arriving at 8:19 PM, here she was. She immediately let out a hearty cry, music to my ears. I looked at Adam and then at my dad with tears in my eyes. I had done it. Our baby girl was actually here.